Filed under: Art, museum, top-feature
Van Gogh in the Morning and Diamonds in the Afternoon
What does Van Gogh mean to you? Sunflowers, Starry Night, the painter who cut off his ear, the man who committed suicide?
Vincent van Gogh’s painted sunflowers from ochre yellow to arid brown, in full bloom and wilting to die. Starry Night – a velvet blue sky with stars that dance and twirl like ballerinas resides in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He cut off only the lobe of his left ear, wrapped it in a cloth and gave it to a prostitute to guard this object carefully. Van Gogh sold only one painting in his lifetime, the Red Vineyard. This picture is now in Pushkin Museum, in Moscow. He lived from allowances he received from his brother Theo, who was an art dealer. Vincent shot himself in the chest on 27 July 1890. He lived for another two days. When asked why he had injured himself, Van Gogh said, I’m free to do what I like with my own life.
Ten to one that you have seen a Van Gogh, but maybe not a real one. Calendars, mugs, T-shirts, posters, mousepads, wall clocks, stickers and strings sport Van Gogh paintings. Google Van Gogh reproduction, 391,000 hits show his popularity. It is difficult to believe that his contemporaries did not recognize his genius. Art critics considered his use of color unrealistic. Van Gogh did not strive for photographic realism but used colors to capture mood and emotion.
Join me on a visit to the Van Gogh Museum and see the real paintings.
VAN GOGH IN THE MORNING
The Van Gogh Museum is Amsterdam’s most popular museum. It is home to the art collection of Theo van Gogh, Vincent’s younger brother and art collector. The collection consists of 200 paintings and 500 drawings by Vincent and select works of contemporaries such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin, Monet and others.
Potato Eaters (1885) in Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam
What I like about this museum is that it exhibits Vincent van Gogh’s works in chronological order. The ground floor of the museum provides an introduction to his life (1854-1890). The star painting is the Potato Eaters, five members of a peasant family sit around a table, eating potatoes. Studies of peasants show how this painting came about. The drab grey and earthy brown paintings of Van Gogh’s early period are in stark contrast to the vermillion, emerald green and Prussian blue of his later works, displayed on the second floor. Van Gogh lived in Arles, France, for the last two years of his life. During these two years, he painted two hundred works ranging from various treatments of sunflowers to bright sunlight of the Provence region in France.
ESSENTIALS
WHAT: Van Gogh Museum
WHERE: Address: Paulus Potterstraat 7 (map)
ADMISSION FEE: €14, free for Museum Card and IAmsterdam Card holders
HOURS: daily 10 am – 6 pm, Friday until 10 pm
Secret Tip: The museum gets extremely crowded. When all cashiers are working the lines move fairly fast, expect a twenty to thirty-minute wait. There are two lines. The slower queue is for buying tickets and IAMsterdam card holders, the fastest for Museum Pass holders and tickets bought online. Friday night is the best time to visit when the Museum is open until 10 pm, crowds are sparse and musicians, video projections and a wine bar will entertain you.
DIAMONDS IN THE AFTERNOON
Diamand-studded Crowns
If you want to find out if ‘diamonds are forever’, pop into the Coster Diamond Museum. Jews introduced the art of diamond cutting in the 16th century, and today Amsterdam is the diamond-cutting capital of the world. Stop for a moment to look at the famous koh-i-noor diamond that sparkles in Queen Elizabeth’s coronation crown. The diamond gleams and glitters like the real one, which is in the Tower in London. Walking through the exhibition room, you will hear Marilyn Monroe sing Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend. Decide for yourself if this is true while you marvel at diamonds from the size of pinpoints to avocado seeds. They twinkle like stars in crowns, tiaras, scepters, brooches, necklaces and earrings. Finish your tour by taking a picture of yourself wearing Queen Beatrix’s tiara or Napoleon Bonaparte’s diamond studded laurel wreath and play the interactive computer game dragging crowns and necklaces to your head and neckline. Email the finished pictures to yourself and friends. A cool memento, and remember diamonds ARE forever.
If make-believe is not good enough for you, nip next door and visit Coster Diamonds Show Rooms. Join their diamond tour that rushes through the sections where you witness polishing, cutting and setting and is very slow in the sales area. This gives you plenty of opportunity to try on massive diamond necklaces and rings on each finger, ask questions and buy diamonds.
ESSENTIALS
WHAT: Coster Diamonds & Museum
WHERE: Paulus Potterstraat 2 – 8 (map)
ADMISSION FEE: €7.50, seniors €5
HOURS: daily 9 am – 5 pm
COCKTAILS IN THE LATE AFTERNOON
Diamond shopping makes for thirst. The tour of Bols Museum next door ends with sipping a cocktail of your choice. You will also learn how to intensify your taste, to refine your smell and mix cocktails.
House of Bols
Lucas Bols is the oldest Dutch distillery still producing genever and liqueurs. When you drink Bols genever straight, the spirit has a more herbal taste than vodka or gin. That’s why it is a superb base for cocktails. In the interactive tasting room you discover what you see affects what you taste. Next you will participate in the guessing game, sniffing thirty –six different flavors of genever and liqueurs and then trying to distinguish them. Finally, it is tasting time. You can try as many of the flavored genevers as you like and savor one full size cocktail, concocted while watch.
ESSENTIALS
WHAT: House of Bols
WHERE: Paulus Potterstraat 14 (map)
ADMISSION FEE: €11.50, including a cocktail of your choice, minimum age 18
HOURS: Monday – Sunday noon – 6 pm, closed on Tuesday, Friday until 11 pm
photo credits: Potato Eaters, House of Bols
2 Comments
I learned so much more that I didn’t know about Van Gogh! I wish I lived closer to attend the Museum! Thank you for the information!
Melissa